Neo NightWing
by JoWashington
Summary: What happens when a ward from the circus and a catperson get together? You get me! How did Batman and I team up in Gotham? And how did we meet? Well you'll just have to read to find out...
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own anything but the plot. DC owns Batman and the Bat-clan as well as their various villains._

**Neo NightWing**

Chapter 1

So here's the dish; my Dad works with dregs and my mom works for the feds. It's always a toss-up for which Christmas party to go to… Well- it was.

Allow me to explain: My name is Richena Grayson, my friends call me Reggie. My father is Richard/ "Dick" Grayson. Unless he's at work and then he's called "Crutches"; my mom is Selena Grayson, formerly Selena Kyle infamous jewel thief and cat-person extraordinaire. Oh yes- they were also known as NightWing and CatWoman in their day. Yeah- I know… My dad has a thing for older women.

Of course, mom still does a job now and then for the feds, and she's paid very highly for her "extra-curricular" work; she's normally a personal assistant for the director of one of those three-letter programs.

Back to the original subject: Why the Christmas party dilemma is no longer an issue… I now live in Gotham. I know; I know… that whole "full-circle" thing… blah-blah-blah.

Due to a work issue with my dad's "co-workers", I was transferred in the middle of my junior year to Hamilton Hill High. I am now in my second week here and so far it's pretty good.

I also have a pretty good fix on who the new Batman is…

I decided my second da-Night here that since both my parents were in the super-hero/super-villain business, I could be too…

Speaking of which, I hate my inner-voice (And no, I'm not crazy)… It's full of those oh-so-wonderful tips like: If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

Heard that before?

I thought so…

Basically by the end of my third night here, I met up/ ran into Batman. I was in costume though, so it was all cool. From my angle at least…

My costume is very similar to Dad's original, similar design and colors. I take after my mother in looks, and it's a good thing too. Easier to hide in the open if no-one knows your true hair color or length… Especially since a wig comes out of the back or my cowl. I wore the cowl over my whole face with a blue mask exact replica of the original over my eyes. You could see my lips, but they were with an experimental product that Navy SEALS were testing, and I was permanently borrowing from my mother. It was like normal fabric, but kept out moisture, heat and a lot of other things, that I can't remember. I wore blue gloves, with matching utility-belt and heeled boots made especially for climbing walls and kicking butt. My suit has some gadgets hidden in the fibers of the uniform that I think will make Batman jealous. If I let him get close enough to me to let him in on the secret that is…

But I don't think the commissioner was too pleased to see either Batman or myself… And no wonder; she was the old Batgirl. But that's no reason to bear a grudge… or is it?

Anyhow; I first met Batman while on patrol. I'd already stopped two muggings, a credit bank robbery, and a high-speed chase. I think he noticed… Especially when he and I ended up stopping a really warped robbery of the DMV:

I was thinking on finishing my patrol before I was found out by Batman, when I spotted a guy standing guard outside the DMV of all places. Maybe he didn't like the way he looked in this Drivers License… But since the doors were now empty panes of shattered glass and silicon, I decided to make myself known in a perky way:

"Hi; I'm here to get my parking validated?" I asked.

The thug turned around and met my fist with his face. After gagging him and tying him up; no reason for him to warn his friends, I went after the others.

Turns out I was vastly outnumbered. There were twelve of them, a ridiculous number for a robbery, in my opinion; but after knocking the second one out, I was joined by Batman as he crashed though the skylight above my head. No alarms went off, but who robs the DMV?

We stopped the rest of the thugs and as Batman was wrapping them up for delivery, I went to check for a get-away vehicle. There was one and I took it out of commission by deflating its tires and disengaging the anti-grav/hover module. Batman joined me and apparently had stopped the driver from stopping me with a lead pipe.

I called the cops from a pay phone; I just dialed 911 and told them to pick up a few wrapped packages at the DMV. Batman and I waited for them to show up and soon the Commissioner herself was talking to us, thanking us for our help, but to let the police do their job.

"Have a problem with a little help?" I asked; "why, it's all been done before…" and I walked off. Giving a little pressure on the inside of my pointer and middle fingers I camouflaged myself and my body-heat.

I didn't go far as I wanted to hear what they said about me.

"Kid, I appreciate what the Bat-clan does for Gotham, but can you ask him to stop recruiting?"

"Love to, but she's not part of the Bat-clan or the cave…" Then Batman took to the skies with rocket-boots and landed in his "Bat-plane".

I saw the eyebrow she raised before she got in her car and drove off presumably to the Wayne estate to question Mr. Wayne about any new wards…

_Well, that's it for now..._

_I'll definitely continue this fic, but a little review would be nice..._

_Let me know what you think, would'ja?_

_Sailor Sweetie aka JoWashington_


	2. explanations seem 2 b needed

Dear readers…

I put this story up because I thought the idea was interesting…

This was **not** a self-insertion fic; although it comes from first person POV…

I wanted to try to have Reggie, my character, deal with things in this fashion… CatWoman and NightWing did have a "thing" in the original DC Batman cartoons and I decided to extrapolate…

_**I apologize**_ if this does not meet you, the readers, criteria or preferences…

However, I feel that if you do not like a fic you don't HAVE to read it… you can always go back to one of your more favorite, preferred reads…

Once again, this was **not a self-insertion** fic… _merely one that I expanded on, on the "what-if"_ CatWoman and NightWing got together…

**I apologize** for any discomfort that may have been perceived upon reading this particular fic of my own making.

As stated in my disclaimer, I do NOT own Batman or Batman Beyond as both are the property of DC Comics…

Sailor Sweetie


	3. Suspicion

I met up with some of the girls during lunch and finally met the illusive Terry McGinnis

I met up with some of the girls during lunch and finally met the illusive Terry McGinnis. Blade, Dana and max among them.

"Ter!" Dana called out summoning Terry toward out little group. He was about six feet tall with blue eyes and rugged looking hair, but short at the neck with a black T-shirt, brown jacket and pants.

"Dana! Hi… who's your friend? She new?" He asked in general.

"Depends on what your definition of new is… Hi; Richena Grayson, call me Reggie…"

"Reggie huh? What made you move to Gotham?" He was looking at me oddly, maybe there was some family resemblance after all…

"Dad didn't want me getting into some nasty business and my Mom was up for sending me here." I said not bothering to hold back my grin, I'd just finished tying up the latest gossip on the illusive Terry McGinnis to the mysterious yet altogether scary hero named 'The Batman'.

"Wait a minute…" Blade said. "Your parents don't live with you? This could be worthwhile…" I slowly turned to face Blade, I did not want a party in my small yet private abode, who knew what some party go-er would accidentally discover, I mean I didn't have the resources or the manpower to build a hide-out, not to mention head-quarters… What would I call it: 'The Dusty Den of Solitude'?

"Nice try Blade…My parents pay the rent, I pay for food, utilities and everything else I want… That and I only have a one bedroom, one bath, and tiny kitchenette apartment."

"Slag it…" Blade said with a grin. And then her brain went to planning what she would wear at the next unfortunate, yet desperate, victim of her party fever.

"Wait… Where do you live?" Max asked.

"The Narrows…" I answered succinctly.

"What?" Terry asked, his eyes wide, "The Narrows, why?"

"My parents have an odd sense of humor…" I said; irony lacing my voice. "And it was dirt cheap since it came with a view of Arkham…"

"Isn't that kind of dangerous, living so close to Arkham Reggie?"

"Well come to think of it: there is a rumor of the whole building being held hostage and thirteen people being killed in my apartment…" As their eyes grew even wider I had to stop hiding my grin. "Talk about gullible! You guys actually fell for that slag?"

"You mean you weren't being serious?" Dana asked concern in her voice.

"Nah… being serious belongs to an extended member of the family that I've never met."

Terry looked at me oddly and was about to ask me something when my cell phone went off. The others in the group reached for theirs. "Oops! Mine, sorry Terry; we'll play 20 Questions later guys, okay?"

The other girls waved it off and went back to their original conversation; Terry on the other hand stared after me; I know because I turned around feeling eyes on my back and saw him staring at me.

I waved at him and answered my cell. "Ladies Lingerie, Susan speaking…"

It was my Dad. "Can't you answer the phone like a normal person?" Was his exasperated reply.

"Hi Daddy! How are you?"

"What's this I hear about a new Nightwing?"

"How should I know? What is it you've heard about Night Singing?"

"Not singing. Wing… Night. Wing."

"Not much why?"

"Just checking… Love you sweety."

"Love you too Daddy…" And I hung up to call my mom.

"Grayson,"

"Hi Mom… did you tell Daddy about my Night Jaunts?"

"No I did not… Sweety I've got to go I'm in the middle-"

"Say no more mom. Love ya!" And I hung up again.

My cell rang again. "Cindy's Casseroles: They're a circus!" I answered

"Check in with Bruce Wayne…" My dad said before he hung up on me.

"Cindy's Casseroles?" Terry asked, apparently he had snuck up behind me and heard at least one of my conversations.

"My dad needs me to harass him, if I didn't; he would brood…" I said.

"Hmmm… I think I know someone who's like that too."

"So since I only have, huh… that's odd- NO classes left how 'bout you and I grab a fizz?"

"Gee I don't know Dana could get-"

"Come on Terry; don't be such a twip…" I cajoled. "I'll send Dana a text-"

My phone buzzed.

"Slag it… The fizz'll have to wait… Work just paged me… Maybe tomorrow?"

"Sounds like a plan." I hope I didn't set off his internal alarms… I mean I'm seventeen, what job would I have that would work nights? Besides what I obviously did at nights that is…

And I jogged off at that. I jumped into my car and sped off. I put it on auto-pilot and changed out of my clothes and pulled on my gloves and cowl, then my car turned down an old deserted alley and changed into my Nightcycle.

I have to call mom to thank her for the up-and-up on the new specs for land and sea operation for unit N.I.A.G.R.A. …

There was only one person that worked for Mr. Bruce Wayne currently, one who was close enough to gain access to the Batcave that is…

Mom knew who Nightwing was, she had to. She was married to him, and Dad knew of her past and married her anyway. What did that make mom? Lucky? She'd made several breaks, with her marriage, with her choice of career, both legal and "legal"; if you know what I mean…

"Terry McGinnis… Let's see if we can cut you off at the pass…" I murmured as I turned the Nightcycle towards Wayne Manor.

There wasn't any word of any sightings or of any heists or escapes… So I had some time on my hands. Enough time to hack the Batcave into allowing me access. Hopefully Bruce Wayne wouldn't hold it against me…

And more than likely, Terry was telling Mr. Bruce Wayne about me right now…


	4. The meeting

Dear readers:

I own nothing but the plot and Richena Grayson.

* * *

I was lucky that both my suit and and the Nightcycle were able to trace signals as well as communications. So I easily tapped into the frequency that Terry and Bruce Wayne were using.

Well, not easily, but there were some bonus' to being the only daughter to the original Nightwing and Catwoman…

And the fact that while I was on the up-and-up with the Batcave and its ingenuities, I was not up to date on their new and improved firewalls and variances… Needless to say, I only caught the last part of their conversation: "Keep an eye on her, Nightwing is without a doubt connected to the original." And that was the end of their conversation, if it could be called that…

I grinned and hooked up to the original system and in minutes had opened the bay doors. I quickly sped through and I was surprised to see that Mr. Bruce Wayne was in the company of Terry.

Bruce Wayne glared at me. "Who are you?" Mr. Wayne demanded.

"Nightwing; second generation..." I answered flippantly; more interested in the inventory of the cave,

"Hmm. Fast; impressive McGinnis…" I said, glancing at Terry.

Terry was on a similar note as Mr. Wayne; and the black Great Dane was growling at me…

"Well, it's a good thing I've never been much of a cat person isn't it, Fido?"

"Answer the man's question: Who Are You?"

I pulled off my cowl in response the Terry and Mr. Wayne's question. And I saw Terry's eyes widen then he nodded in confirmation. Despite the hair color, (the black wig to my much shorter blonde hair) my recent mannerisms were off key. I knew I should have watched myself better, but I also needed to let Mr. Wayne know that I was on his side and that neither my mother nor my father held anything against him.

"Richena Grayson, Mr. Wayne… Sorry to drop in like this but my Dad asked me to, and I quote: 'Check in with Bruce Wayne'. He just didn't say how…"

"How is Dick?" Figures that Mr. Wayne wouldn't be surprised to see who I am; he really does keep track of everyone… And he certainly was not surprised that I dropped in unannounced.

"Dad wants to keep on the up and up with me, but he's nowhere near as good as you are Mr. Wayne at keeping tabs on people."

"How's Selena?" He asked changing the subject

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Catwoman?" Terry asked silently asking for clarification. Though apparently, he was eager for details.

"Formerly known as Prince…" I had to add, grinning. "By the way Mr. Wayne; she still thinks of you as a mysterious work-a-holic softie."

His eyes widened then hardened. "Very funny…" He turned back to the computer; "I've been keeping track of you Richena; you do well in school, and for the most part; you've kept under the radar."

"Cat. Woman." Terry demanded.

"My, Mother…" I said slowly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… Catwoman; your mother? How-"

"Do I need to explain to you the 'birds and the bees' McGinnis?" Mr. Wayne asked smirking.

"Ugh! No… I was just curious how the original Nightwing and your vigilante girlfriend Catwoman got together…"

"Believe me… I want to know too…But they have tighter lips than Fort Knox." I said.

"How'd you find out about me being Batman?" Terry asked, concern and curiosity in his voice.

"I didn't for a while, but when I found out about the resurfacing of the Joker, I checked into Mr. Wayne and looked up all the functions he'd been to recently that had photos and footage and saw you in some of them; I added up the facts, plus the fact that Batman was new and younger than the original -duh- and came up with you. You'd confirmed it today when I met you and was talking to Max, Dana, and even Blade…"

"How so?"

"You were doing pretty well, but for someone that's been in the business; there were tells…" I said examining the Gray Ghost's uniform.

I could feel the palpable incredulity Terry was giving off. And I quickly decided to put Terry out of his misery.

Or maybe it was mine… Whose ever misery it was I decided to put us/them out of it…

"Too shrewd, too suspicious, too observant..." I said succinctly

"Huh?"

"You were paying too close attention to things. In order not to be noticed, or less noticed as the case may be, you need to pay attention to things without paying attention to them."

"In English?"

"What color are my eyes?"

"Wha-?"

"What color are my eyes?"

"What's that got to do with our conversation?"

"What color are they?"

"Green."

"Dark or light green?"

"Dark. What-?"

"Congratulations Terry, you might not be as hopeless as I thought."

"You passed the test McGinnis. Observation…" Mr. Wayne said, proud sarcasm in his voice.

"E- what test? What did it have to do with the color of her eyes?"

"Figure it out McGinnis." Mr. Wayne said.

A look of realization lit Terry's face and was followed up by a grin and an outstretched hand. "Nice to have you aboard… partner…"

I saw a small smile on Mr. Wayne's face. And I knew it was full-circle.

An answering grin lighting up my face; and I took Terry hand and shook it firmly.

"Welcome to the team Nightwing…"Bruce Wayne said.

Full-circle indeed.

* * *

To all my readers and such-forth: WELCOME!!

Please review.

If you do not I will be forced to do something dark and drastic…

Like killing off the characters…

Or having the bad guys win…

Or discontinuing the fic altogether…

The fate of this tale is in your hands.

Please REVIEW!!

Thy (maybe) future Grim Reaper…

Sailor Sweetie


	5. An Odd Turn

As you, my dear reader/s, have not really replied, (I thank my ONE replier: Lyz Shadow. My reply to her reply: "Wait and See.") I have decided to take my story on an unexpected twist. The only way you can change the course of this plot; is to _**REVIEW**_!!

I got the idea/twist from "The Gotham Knights of Middle Earth"… I forget your name author- But you ROCK!! Full props to friends and weird family for this warped inspiration.

**I own nothing but the new Nightwing and the plot. All other characters belong to their respective creators.**

Now- to continue my odd tale…

Neo Nightwing: An Odd Turn.

It was a few days er- nights later, and as a team however unofficial to civilians, Batman and I had stopped several robberies, break-ins and an odd attack that still left me second guessing where I put my keys and if this was the right time line. It was decided that we hated 'The Key-Master'; whom had some how gotten 'the key' to time as we know it. We'd encountered him after I had shown the Editor of the Gotham Globe my digi-pics… I was hired, as a freelancer; which was good because it gave me time for school and… My _Other_ activities… I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, I'm busy, soaking up all the info on past nemeses…

You see- Terry was showing me around the cave and telling me of his general routes as Batman, as well as some of the adventures, including how some, okay- many, of them included school-mates of his. But he stopped as an alarm on the Nightcycle went off. Followed up moments later by an alarm on the Bat Computer.

I pulled on my cowl, (I had changed into my uniform as soon as I walked into the cave; the other night, Wayne told me to leave my car/Nightcycle there. I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he was going to do with it…) and at a look from Mr. Wayne, Terry changed into his uniform as well. I had not yet, but was slowly coming to realize (much to my chagrin) that I, as usual, had jumped in feet first before checking to see how deep the water was. Wayne was an ever tougher task master than my parents were! He demanded perfection; or as close to it as Terry and I could get.

And apparently we were so far from the finish line that we hadn't even left the starting line!

I checked it out on my visor, which has a link to the Nightcycles mainframe and communications systems. "Gotta go, the Commish is here and I don't want to be tagged! Later!"

I got on my cycle, pulling on my helmet; which had saved my life a couple times in the past; (I'd made up for my general newness rather quickly) and made it quickly out of the Batcave, making it camouflaged as soon as I started it up. I had no sense of wanting the Commissioner finding out just who I was, just yet…

The Batmobile was right on my tail, although it wasn't camouflaged; and Batman aided in hiding my presence.

A button lit up my console. I tapped into it as it logged as the Batman.

"This is your favorite partner speaking, how can I help you?"

"I hate to ask, and look a gift horse in the mouth; but why isn't Dana mad at me about 'hanging out' with you?" Terry asked uncertainty edging his concern.

"Don't worry… I've covered for you." I said lightly.

"You don't even really know me; how would you be able to cover for me?"

"I told them I was the daughter to one of the wards of Bruce Wayne and that you were helping me find things out around town."

"And they bought that?"

"Carte Blanche."

"Wha-?" Was the reply; obviously, someone needed to buff up on their history…

"Let's just do some more recon…" I said, changing the subject.

"Been quiet so– "

A light pinged on on the console of the Nightcycle. "This is your fault you know." I informed Batman as we pulled a 180 and headed back where we came from. "…Saying anything along the lines of: "so far" and "quiet" is a curse to any superhero's watch."

And he led the way to the port authority…

No doubt the person there was about to get a surprise… Big time.

Well, it wasn't Big-Time… It was- Someone with a brighter, more… insane personality...

Blight.

Batman's not so favorite, accidentally made arch enemy, his veritable Joker… But without the sense of humor and- well you get the picture… You've met him and now so have I; the Newscasts just aren't the same as a live fight… Especially when you're up close and personal to his bad breath…

We had eventually stopped Blight, and put him into a lead lined room with high heat intensity absorbing walls over at Arkham. And we both now had bruises that made me glad that we weren't fighting Bane. Geesh, do we need team skills; we have both been loners for too long. I don't count Max or the time that Wayne had to back up Batman.

What we hadn't expected on our return trip was for our sensors to shrill briefly before we flew into a portal that opened out of nowhere in front of us. As soon as the noses of our vehicles entered the portal, all systems went wild and our thrusters forced us deeper into the portal. As soon as we were completely inside the portal, we lost complete power for ten harrowing seconds as did our suits, leaving us paralyzed and at the whim of gravity.

Oh yeah- we were panicking… But luckily our suits and our vehicles regained power as soon as we were tossed out of the portal; not exactly the best way to go about exiting a portal… According to Batman, it was worse than exiting a Boom Tube.

"I still blame this on you, you know…" I told him as I set my sensors to scan the surrounding area. "Um- this may sound dumb- but not twenty-seconds ago it was dark out…"

"Different Universe more than likely…" Batman said, I heard him calibrating his scanners and stuck my tongue out at him and his seemingly know-it-all-ness.

My attention was drawn however, to the figure flying backwards between Batman's and my vehicle… We saw him hit a building and winced. Oh, yeah; Guy in yellow spandex and blue cape would definitely be feeling that in the morning… And at a beeping from both our consoles, we were still connected by our comm. frequency, tapping a few buttons I focused on the area where the signal and the unknown Hero came from…

Wouldn't you know it- Inque… And fighting a bunch of heroes I'd never seen before, and after the tour I'd just received and the profiles I'd gone over in my spare time as a Freelancer at the Gotham Globe, I'd seen a lot of profiles…

"She had to show up sooner or later…" Batman said as we set out vehicles on Auto-pilot and flew down to the battle-field.

"Oh- were you expecting her to show up attacking people in another Universe?"

He gave me a: 'I'm Batman- not God' look. "She a mercenary and can slip through just about anything…"

"That would be why Interpol is still after her… Why haven't the Cyrogenics labs made sure she can't escape?"

"Because of sentimental and dumb fools." He said shortly, and then I remembered the Inque fan, that had been detrimental to the keeping of Inque.

"Ah-" I said nodding. "Remind me to get alarms placed at Cyrogenic labs and such…"

"Wayne already installed the systems into your Nightcycle… Since you're part of the team and all-"

"Twenty Creds will get you double that there's a tracking device installed somewhere in it that I didn't." I offered, with a smirk.

"Sucker bet."

I shrugged in reply as we landed.

"(So- Batman… You have a new partner… Or is it Side-kick?)" She asked me. "(You're new, but you've taken up the mantel of the original's-)" I didn't let her speak. I'd heard it again, and again, and again. I was getting tired of it. So I chucked a Wingerang at what was supposed to be her head.

"Oh- I'm sorry did I interrupt you?" I sarcastically asked, just as I threw a punch at her which she avoided by grabbing a flagpole, swinging around and hitting me in the chest.

"(She like you Batman? Slow on the uptake?)" Batman merely chucked a Batarang at a fire hydrant sending the top flying off and water spraying everywhere.

"(AHH!)" She yelled trying to avoid the water. She grabbed the man in the yellow and red armor and threw him at the fire-hydrant, which he impacted heavily.

Batman smirked, a er-um… freezing Batarang in hand- Which got knocked out of his hand as the man in the yellow spandex and blue cape flew into the scene and tried to take down Inque again.

I stopped the unknown Heroes from attacking Inque. "You don't know what Inque is capable of… We do. Let us handle it." I said, stopping the man in red, white and blue with the shield from entering the fight, by grabbing his arm.

"Who are you?" He asked.

I turned just in time to see Inque throw Batman into the side of a building.

"Batman!" I yelled in concern, before turning to Inque, my expression murderous. I barely heard one of the other heroes cautioning me not to do anything rash.

I pulled a Wingerang that I'd designed after looking at Inque's profile. As I dodged one of Inque's attacks, I threw it and wouldn't you know- she dodged it. But there was a reason the latter part was called an "erang"; because it came right back around and hit Inque in the arm as she was running at me. I didn't move although the other heroes yelled at me to do so. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a few of them make a move to get me out of the way. But stopped themselves when Inque seemed to be frozen.

"(What did you do to me?!)" Inque demanded, about all she could do too. Batman had to have the same question, as he made his way to me, holding his ribs and limping.

After slapping handcuffs on Inque, I made our way over to Batman, Inque was having problems walking, but we were stopped when a cobblestone man put his hand on my shoulder.

"Jus' a minnit missie. What did ya do to slimy slinker over there?"

"I accessed the mutagen in her DNA and neutralized it. As long as the Wingerang stays on her, she can't revert to her ink form…" I explained.

I saw Batman gingerly holding his ribs and had a hand to one of the ears of his cowl. I mentally sighed in relief. We still had contact with our world.

"Nightwing," Batman said as he approached me; "The JLU called on their frequency. There's been some news, after S.T.A.R. labs analyzed the portal, it was conferred and concluded that only one person or object can come back-"

Inque suddenly dropped to the ground crushing the Wingerang and slipped out of the handcuffs.

"No!" I yelled and attempted to stop her. Batman threw the freezing Batarang that he had collected earlier at Inque.

"(See ya later handsome, we'll dance again Nightwing…)" She laughed as she extended her self up and into the portal.

"No!" Batman and I yelled as we flew up to the portal just before it slammed closed with a wink of light. The sensors in our suits couldn't pick it up either… It was gone. Now all we needed to do was to find a way to open it again.

I had to ask. If I didn't I would never find out for sure. "Have any of you ever heard of C.A.D.M.U.S.?" I asked the still as of yet unknown Superheroes.

"I know of S.H.I.E.L.D.; what is Kadmus?" The man in red, white and blue answered.

Batman glared at the Superheroes and then at me. I quickly got the hint; and blanched under my cowl. Pressing a button on my utility belt, I summoned my Nightcycle. It hovered a few feet off the ground and I leapt on; pulling on my helmet as I did so. I knew what Batman intended to do. If we were going to be stuck here, we needed a base of operations.

**As you have found out; things have taken an odd turn for the heroes of Gotham…**

**If you don't want something really BAD to happen…**

Please review.

As stated in the previous chapter:

"If you do not I will be forced to do something dark and drastic…

Like killing off the characters…

Or having the bad guys win…

Or discontinuing the fic altogether…

The fate of this tale is in your hands."

Please REVIEW!!

Thy (possibly, soon coming) future Grim Reaper…

Sailor Sweetie


	6. Easing a Hostage Situation

_**Basing Ourselves**_

_(A/N:I decided to try to write from a different perspective, Terry's to be exact… After you've read this chapter, tell me what you think.)_

My name is Terry McGinnis. I am Batman, and I recently gained a partner. (We skipped the whole Robin stage; that would have been just weird, as all the Robins have been guys…)

Allow me to explain: We were patrolling Gotham when I said 'the bane of superheroes' "Been quiet so far" and flew into a portal and into, what appears to be another universe.

We figured that out pretty quick, because: **A)** none of the buildings were familiar **B)** none of the heroes were familiar and **C)** Last I checked the JLU Archives, random portals just don't take you to a different place in the same city.

All the superheroes that Nightwing and I weren't familiar with? It was taking all of them to fight Inque…Which was interesting to see, but you'd think they'd get a line on how to fight her already… these heroes needed to start thinking on their feet. But as it went, Nightwing and I ended up getting in between their fight with Inque and we ended up (as usual) winning. I need to find out how Nightwing built that device that tampered with Inque's powers, that was pretty slick, and Wayne didn't even think of it… But then again he is/was the world finest detective, and not an inventor…But anyway, our capture of Inque was short lived, as she crushed the stasis device and got away, back through the portal. Turns out that only one person or object could go through and Inque was it.

If we don't get out of here soon, I can only hope and pray that time flows differently here, and that Inque would only be on the loose for a couple hours max. But, since we had no way to verify that idea, we were going to be stuck until some brilliant scientist or magic user found a way to get us back to our known universe.

We did the usual making sure that we REALLY weren't in our known universe, before I glared at Nightwing and she eventually got the hint that we needed to go. Once we were half a mile away, we turned on our anti-grav units and disengaged thrusters, initiating the invisibility option. Good thing too. That metal man flew right past us, obviously he was trying to pursue us.

One thing was for certain: If we are to remain here until the League knows when- We need to establish a base for ourselves, only because we seem to be lacking a Batcave…

"~I've encrypted and linked to Earthbound Satellites Batman… Uploading now.~" Nightwing said over our comm-link. She works fast…

A slew of information came through our connected synapses'. As I brought up a map of Gotham, I hoped that they layout of the cities or at least the United States matched those from out world. And I REALLY Hoped I could find a cave system like Wayne's.

A beep came through my console as one area matched up. Jackpot.

"There's a cave system over on the East side of New York. The caves have a continuous water supply and more than enough space for our vehicles." I informed Nightwing.

I heard a higher beep. Nightwing had pulled up some new info…

"~Get this- there's a mansion above it called…~" I heard her snicker, "~Gotham Manor…~" She snickered some more and I smirked. "~I'm hacking into the City Council's Database…Ugh! Your brother could hack this!~" Now I heard disgust. The fact that my brother would have no problem hacking the site was troublesome, if he could hack it- then Nightwing and I needed to-

"~The manor has been closed for years…~" She said interrupting my train of thought. "~I just pulled up information on the current owner…~"

When she didn't continue I was concerned. "What's the matter Nightwing?"

I heard her mutter something, then negate whatever thought it was. So I repeated my question: "what's the matter Nightwing?"

She started to say something just as we pulled into the cave, but then stop herself.

"Nightwing?"

We came to a stop in a level portion of the cave, and I jumped out of the Bat-Mobile. I approached her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Nightwing?" Startled, she turned to face me, pulling her helmet off as she did so. Finally she decided to spit out whatever was bothering her.

"You're the current owner of Gotham Manor, I'm your fiancée, and we went missing two years ago…"

"What?" I was startled. Here I was just eighteen and I already have a fiancée? I mean the me in this dimension did- but that-!

"Yeah, according to the data I'm reading we're both incredibly smart, like child-prodigy smart… And you started your company at the tender age of fourteen, with the aid of your late guardians Thomas and Martha Gotham… I met you sometime in your classes and between your guardians and my… foster father… Bruce Grayson, and his two son's Richard and Timothy, we were allowed to date and than according to this information, we were… Oh!"

"What's: 'Oh!'?"

"The lot of us- I mean them, decided to go on a cruise on the Gotham's yacht; but they disappeared after there was a hurricane, and an Alien Invasion…" She said. This was sounding like a mix between some of the old Justice League member's lives… Green Arrow and Batman definitely…

"Alien Invasion huh?" I said.

"Yeah- so technically, you and I are in the system, so we don't have to fabricate new lives or have to have jobs that would interfere with our patrols…" Nightwing said, giving the situation into a brighter light. "There's the issue of dealing with the Missing Person's, but if we do some homework- we should be able to make this work…" Nightwing said, a slight smile on her lips.

"Well- As long as Dana doesn't find out… This could be promising…"

* * *

Getting "back into the run of things" was definitely interesting. We, "our other selves", were born in the same suburb names; and minus the child-prodigy part, we were pretty much the same… On second thought- I'm sure that child-prodigy only applied to Nightwing, because she does invent things left and right.

Fingerprints matched up. As did DNA samples that were taken. And so we were adjusting back to 'our' lives. The trip to the bank was more than "fun"… In fact, dealing with the twip of a bank manager and the whole reactivating 'our' accounts a was quite- as Reggie would say: excruciating, aggravating, and we both felt the need to hit someone…. the fact that the bank manager was a complete and utter blathering idiot, was where that part came in... A fact that became quite apparent when the bank was held up for robbery.

The bank manager was worthless, a complete brown-noser…Reggie put a stop to the attempted robbery by yanking out the electric cord from a lamp and separating the cord slightly, used it like a Taser and brought the robber to his knees, but not enough to knock him out. That honor went to me, as with a quick punch to his face he was out and after separating the electric cord the rest of the way we had the would-be robber trussed up like a Christmas Goose. And that was just the beginning of our day. The bank manger was so thankful that he hired a thirteen person staff to clean the manor from top to bottom. Which was fine with Reggie and I since we still had to install an access point from where our vehicles were stored to somewhere there is limited access. Like a closet.

Luckily for us, by the time we were done with telling the major holders of property, vehicles and utilities, not to mention tailors that 'we' were back, the Manor didn't have lick of dust anywhere and someone had even stocked the kitchen with groceries and had started dinner.

By the time we'd finished dinner and had put our recently acquired fashionable clothing away, we decided to go back down to the cave. Reggie had fiddled with an idea throughout dinner, and after stopping at a _RadioShack_, to buy components- she joined me down in the caves. The device was something along the lines of Shrieve Industries, before he became Shriek. It was a high intensity Ultra sonic hand held excavator.

I had pulled on my cowl upon entering the cave and using it's visual sensors, was able to map out where things should go and where the entrance would be from. As well as what areas to avoid as they were weight bearing or unstable.

As we'd agreed sometime around lunch ( a couple hot dogs and sodas) it would be in a closet. Which turned out to be located in the library. It held dusting supplies. There would be a set of three trigger books. And all three needed to be pulled out slightly before you were able to open the side of the closet which would lead down the stairs into our new Batcave. Once the access point to the Batcave was closed, the books would recede back into line with the rest of the books.

While Reggie was following the cave design carving to the centimeter, with the help of her cowl, I was investigating the rest of the cave system.

"We need a way to disguise the entrance…" I said as I returned. "There're two more interconnecting cave systems. One goes at a 45 degree angle to the ocean within the cliffs and the other leads to a dead end twenty feet above the original entrance…"

We made more plans before we decided to call it a night. It's exhausting how hard shopping is and letting everybody and almost every company know that 'we' were back.

* * *

It'd taken us just under three weeks to install the bare necessities in our new 'Batcave', we'd ordered A literal ton of six inch thick steel plates with rivets to secure them. Our reason, was to install a panic room.

Actually it was to install, the entrance door to the cave. We'd since rigged up a security system and a specific set of hinges attached both manually and electronically to the computer as well as to a hidden alcove that aided in disguising the entrance, as well as sheltering the hologram projectors.

We'd put together an extremely complex hologram composed of a 697-line algorithm with sixteen required pass-codes to bypass (and forty-two firewalls with sixteen false gateways); the hard-light hologram would emulate the weather the cliff as experiencing, for the part that allowed almost direct access to our Batcave. We didn't want to take any chances, so we also used two names for data-level one entry passwords, I used my Brother's, Reggie used her Mom's.

The hard-light hologram was always in place (except when we or our vehicles crossed the threshold), but Reggie decided to take it one step further, and checked to see satellite images of the area. There were two satellites that had abilities to access the images of our crafts entering and exiting the cliffs. Reggie and I took care of it, by integrating a blind-spot/loop so that there would be no image of someone entering our base of operations.

A thrum sounded just after Reggie and I were programming our main computer, the fact that the alert worked on the computer was way Shway, and we exchanged a high-five over that fact. But then we noticed that the tone indicated it was a distress signal, and we changed into our uniforms.

The doors opened exactly as we wanted, several tests and trial runs had made sure that the steel doors opened vertically upon intended proximity, within 0.3 seconds, ensuring that we didn't crash into them.

We flew along the coast for a minute, before parting and heading towards the signal. I arrived just before Nightwing, and noticed the heroes from earlier conversing with the local law enforcement.

We leapt off our respective transportation and jetted upwards just as the hero in red, white and blue issued orders to his team. As we'd flown closer, we listened in on the Police Band: It was a hostage situation, there were thirteen people being held hostage, and according to scans from our vehicles, there were at least seven hostage takers.

I heard one of the heroes yell at us to wait. But we were already three stories off the ground and still going up.

We shut off our rocket boots as soon as we caught a strong enough updraft, also to warrant the safety of both ourselves and the hostages. We made sure to jeep ourselves camouflaged. We quickly verified: there were six men in a single apartment holding thirteen people hostage.

I looked to my right and saw a man in red and blue spandex with webs, who was crouched next to where we were. He was talking to someone. No doubt to one of his team members on the ground. I switched to ultra-violet vision when I felt Nightwing touch my arm.

A look to my left allowed me to see Nightwing, who nodded, twice; confirming that she had hacked their comm channel, allowing us to hear, but not actively participate in their conversations, and she indicated that she was going up.

Standard procedure was: I scope the outside, while she scopes from the air ducts.

I opened my wings and pushed off gently from the side of the building, allowing myself to land lightly at ground level, where I entered through the front door.

It must've been really interesting to see the doors open and close "on their own". I did however hear, through the hacked comm several members of the hero team outside wondering where Nightwing and I took off to. Apparently none of them noticed the doors… I made it to the stairway with no problems.

"Nightwing, I'm in the stair-well."

"Right… Sixteenth floor. Careful, they're getting jumpy. Just saw another hostage taker, he was talking to another that I can't find… And having those heroes down there aren't meeting their demands…" She said quietly.

"Like we would?" I asked her.

"Point." She conceded.

Ignoring the stairs, I climbed the supports, more than likely one hostage taker was watching the stairwell for movement. I made it to the sixteenth floor; there was a goon watching the stairwell. I knew that we'd have to scare them. And save the hostages with few to less injuries. Time was of the essence . Those hostages were getting more and more anxious and that didn't men good things for their captors who were getting more and more annoyed both at their victims and at their lack of demand achievement. They were starting to argue amongst themselves and a couple were fingering the triggers to their automatics.

Unless we acted now- this could and would end badly. A chime sounded in my ear. Nightwing was ready and in position. The door to the apartment was left open, and I slipped inside, noting that Nightwing had landed silently from the air vent to the floor.

The captors were mostly gathered at the window. Threatening to shoot the captives should their needs continue to be not met.

The man who appeared to be the leader came from the bathroom, zipping his fly.

"Yo! You're out of TP…" He told one of the hostages. "You- kid, go get me something to drink from the kitchen, and leave the door open!"

"Slag it…" I muttered. That kid was shivering, shuddering and sniveling so bad, he could hardly walk straight. He was headed toward the kitchen, which would have gotten him out of harm's way, but he returned shortly with a can of 'Coca Cola'… Whatever that is… Then I noticed what he was heading for.

I winced as he knocked over several wine bottles. Two broke upon hitting one another. The noise freaked the leader out, and he spun away from facing the window, to face the kid. His automatic was at hip level, the safety off.

No time for subtly, I tossed several smoke marbles to the floor and they quickly activated. I more heard than saw Nightwing throw a Wingerang and heard it hit the leaders gun. I saw the gun go flying, several bullets were now spraying from different guns.

"Get out! Quick! Get out before you get hurt!" I heard Nightwing yell at the hostages. Apparently, she was able to free them and shove them toward the door.

Through the hacked comm, I heard several orders being expelled. A quick glance out the window, as I bent the muzzle of the automatic upward, revealed the heroes and law enforcers not only agitated, but swarming towards the entrance.

"Slag it…." I said again, I threw a bolo at two of the men, forcing them to the floor. Nightwing merely slammed two of the goons' heads together knocking them out before going after the two dodging to avoid the tails of bullets that their guns expelled, being trained in our general direction. We still had our camouflage on so it was ridiculous for them to get a bead on us. But still why take the chance of getting shot?

I scanned the scene… Wait a tic- where was the leader? Not in the room at all… which meant he was heading downstairs to where the hostages were heading!

I ran out of the room, allowing Nightwing to finish up her gathering of the goons, and ran down the hall, according he wasn't heading down- he was heading up.

I'd reached the roof just as an explosion hit the building.

"You can't stop me Invisible Girl! I will NOT be STOPPED!" Great. The leader wasn't the leader at all, just another stooge.

I dropped my camouflage. "I am not the Invisible Girl!" I growled, letting my wings snap open. "I AM **BATMAN**!"

The man's eyes widened and he let out a squeak. "You will answer to the proper authorities Slime!" I didn't know his name, but slime always fit the refuse of the populace. I threw a batarang and knocked the wanna-be leader out before catching it and reaching to cuff the actual leader.

Before I could cuff the leader however, he jumped off the roof. I dove after him, catching him after two stories.

"Twenty-two stories up…" I said hauling him up as I adjusted my decent with my wings and rocket boots. "You must really want to go splat. I should just let you drop." I snarled.

So I did.

What?

When I dropped him, we were only four feet off the ground…

Really NOT such a big deal!


End file.
